When I first saw the Art for Water logo, I wasn’t immediately sure what the group or business was all about – but I found the image and words so compelling I headed immediately to their website to find out more.
It turns out this Harrisville, N.H.-based organization is dedicated to “bringing children and adults together in the making of public art [to foster] stewardship of an essential natural resource.” Worldwide, 5 million people die annually from preventable, water-related diseases – all because they do not have access to clean water, according to the Art for Water website.
The use of color plays a major role in Art for Water’s logo design. Grayscale suggests the grim reality of the global water crisis for millions of people. The font, like water, is delicate and can slip right through our fingertips. It almost fades before your eyes at the beginning of the logo but, by the end of the line, the strong black type gives a sense of hope – hope for restoration and plentiful supply underscored by the dark color and font usage. These details, carefully made by the logo designer, are meant to tug at the viewer’s heart, making you sad or angry, sparking the motivation to get involved.
It’s not often an image flying by on the computer screen as I scroll down grabs my attention enough to make me shout out a mental “Halt!” The Art for Water logo did so. And once the image gets your attention, the statistics the group shares hold it.